All
information in this article is for educational purposes only.It is not for the diagnosis, treatment,
prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

INTRODUCTION

Anemia
is a very common and important symptom.There are many types of anemia, often divided into:

1) Those
caused by low or inadequate production of red blood cells, and

2) Those
caused by too rapid destruction of red blood cells.Usually this occurs
when the red blood cells are not healthy and robust.

Toxic
metals.Most toxic metals can cause
anemias.This is largely
overlooked by doctors because there is no easy way to measure all the toxic
metals, especially deep in the bone marrow where blood is made.

Copper
anemia.A very common type of anemia that is
not well understood by doctors is due to copper imbalance.It is usually mild, and on tests it
looks exactly like iron deficiency anemia.Doctors give iron for it.However, taking iron does not correct it completely.

It is much
more common in women, and not because of blood loss due to menstruation.Women have more copper imbalance than
men.To correct it, one must
correct the copper imbalance.This
requires a nutritional balancing program, in most cases.

What
is anemia?Anemia
basically signifies a low red blood cell count or a low hemoglobin level.It is an important symptom because
hemoglobin contained in the red blood cells carries oxygen from the lungs to
every cell in the body.

When one is
anemic, oneÕs energy level decreases and one can become easily tired.If the condition is extreme, oxygen
starvation occurs with many other problems such as fainting, low resistance to
infections, and inadequate oxygenation of the tissues.

How blood is produced. Blood is
produced in the marrow of all the long bones of the body.This may seem like an unusual place for
blood formation, but the reason for it is that the bones actually protect the
marrow from most contamination due to various toxins, including toxic metals.

Today, however, most people have some toxic metals
in the bone marrow itself.This is
one reason for blood disorders.

Once the red blood cells are formed in the marrow,
they circulate for about four months before they are destroyed in the
spleen.Their components are then
recycled to make new red and white blood cells.This is actually a fascinating process and one that can go
awry due to many factors.

SPECIFIC
CAUSES FOR ANEMIA

Among the most common causes of anemia are:

1.
Iron deficiency.Adequate iron is needed in everyone as it is the
central atom of the hemoglobin molecule.Iron deficiency is most common in poor nations where people do not eat
meat and eggs.It also occurs in
some cases of pregnancy, and in young women who have very heavy menstrual
periods.It can also occur in some vegetarians who do not eat
meat or eggs.Finally, it can
occur due to hidden bleeding somewhere in the body.For example, bleeding could be due to an ulcer, a cancer or
to an accident or injury.

Iron deficiency produces a microcytic, microchromic
anemia, meaning that the red blood cells are too small, and they are not very
red when viewed under a microscope.This is a hallmark of this type of anemia.

Simple iron deficiency anemia is not that common in
the industrialized world, and is easy to take care of by adding more meat and
eggs to the diet, in most cases.One can also take an iron supplement, although most regular iron
supplements are hard on the intestines and often cause constipation.Chelated iron or liver tablets are much
better, if these are needed.

WARNING: Beware, however, of three critical facts about
iron deficiency anemia today.

A. In my experience, simple iron deficiency anemia
is not that common in the industrialized nations, except during pregnancy,
among some vegetarians and in a few young women with extremely heavy menstrual
periods.

B. Copper anemia exactly mimics iron deficiency
anemia, and is far more common.It
causes a microcytic, microchromic anemia exactly like iron deficiency, can
cause low ferritin, and it is extremely common.Doctors often give women iron for this condition, which only
makes the women more ill!It is
discussed below.

C. Iron is very toxic when in excess.Therefore, beware of taking iron or
eating loads of meat every day.In
fact, iron overload is extremely common, as revealed on hair mineral tests and
medical articles.Our bodies have
trouble removing iron, so iron easily can build up in the body, where it causes
or contributes to all the major diseases of our time.These include arthritis, inflammation, heart disease,
diabetes and cancer.For more on
this, read Chronic Acquired Iron Toxicity on this
website.

2.
Copper-related anemia.Biologically
available copper is required for the conversion of iron from the ferric to the
ferrous form, and back again, to produce hemoglobin.Bioavailable copper is also required to incorporate iron
into the hemoglobin molecule.

Copper-related anemia is the most common type of
anemia in the industrialized nations due to widespread copper imbalance in the
population.Many, if not most apparent iron deficiency anemias
are caused by copper imbalance.These cases do not respond well to iron therapy, and instead require a
nutritional balancing program to balance copper in the body.

Signs and symptoms are those of a mild, chronic,
microcytic, microchromic anemia.It is most common in teenage and adult women, although it can occur in
anyone.

While anemia due to copper imbalance appears
identical on blood tests to iron deficiency anemia, the cause and correction is
very different.A hair mineral
analysis can help distinguish the two types.Taking iron is not helpful, and, in fact, taking iron
supplements is very harmful when it is not needed.I take a lot of young women, in particular, off iron
supplements when their anemia is due to copper imbalance, and they recover
fully.

3. B12 deficiency, also called pernicious anemia.This is a lesscommon anemia
that occurs mainly in older people, in some vegetarians, and in some people who
low levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach or low digestive enzymes, in
general.

Most people lose some ability to absorb vitamin B12
from their food as they age.This
is a serious problem for many over the age of 60 or perhaps younger, especially
if the digestive tract is in poor condition or if one is under a lot of
stress.Vitamin B12 is found
mainly in animal foods, so vegetarians, especially vegans, are much more prone
to this serious condition.Vitamin
B12 deficiency causes a macrocytic or so-called pernicious anemia.It can cause permanent brain damage
with symptoms of confusion, memory loss, dementia and even death.It is often missed by doctors in its
early stages.A mild B12 anemia
may also occur in vegetarians, or others who do not eat much meat or eggs.The cost of supplementary vitamin B12
is so low that this simple problem ought to receive more attention by the medical
community.It is also a reason why
everyone needs a digestive aid, especially older people.

4. Lead and other toxic metals.Lead
poisoning is well known for causing a type of anemia that can be fatal.Hidden lead toxicity may be responsible
for anemias of chronic disease.This is seen commonly with cancer and
other degenerative diseases.Elevated lead is often not revealed on any tests until it is eliminated
from the body using a nutritional balancing program or some other method.Lead is often hidden because it is
deposited deep within bone marrow and other inaccessible areas of the body.One
or more years may be required to mobilize hidden lead with nutritional
balancing science.Chelation
therapy with EDTA and other drugs only removes more superficial lead deposits,
in general, and unfortunately also removes essential minerals such as calcium
and zinc.Therefore, we never
recommend chelation and we donÕt require it to remove lead and all the toxic
metals.

5.
Combination anemias and other blood disorders. Toxic metals such as cadmium, mercury and others
may also affect the bone marrow and interfere with zinc or copper
metabolism.This occasionally
causes unusual types of anemias and other blood problems that can leave doctors
scratching their heads.As health
improves, these unusual blood disorders often improve on their own without the
need for other treatment.

Copper deficiency can impair iron absorption and
incorporation of iron into hemoglobin. This is essentially identical with the copper-induced anemia described
above but is due to a frank copper deficiency instead of bounavaliabe copper.

Vitamin B6 deficiency can inhibit synthesis of the
heme portion of the hemoglobin molecule.

Vitamin B2 or B5 deficiencies, while rare, may
cause anemias.

Rarely, excess zinc intake can interfere with iron
absorption and cause a copper deficiency. It also decreases copper
and iron levels in the liver.This
can affect the incorporation and release of iron from liver ferritin.It may also increase the fragility of
red blood cells.

Folic acid deficiency, while rare, can cause a macrocytic, macrochromic
anemia similar to B12 deficiency anemia.

OTHER CAUSES FOR ANEMIA

Drug-caused anemia.This
is another extremely common type of anemia due to internal bleeding, usually
from the stomach.It ismost
commonly seen in older people who use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for
pain such as aspirin, ibuprofen, Tylenol, Aleve and the others.These drugs damage the stomach lining
and cause chronic internal bleeding in thousands upon thousands of people.Some die as a result.Stopping the drugs is usually
sufficient to correct the cause of the anemia.I would suggest always avoiding long-term use of these drugs
for this very reason, as often the bleeding is hard to detect until the anemia
is far advanced.

Chronic infections.These
may cause anemia by an interesting mechanism.The body may sequester iron to keep it out of the blood
stream during some infections because iron tends to favor the growth of certain
bacteria in the body.One must
correct the infection and the anemia most often subsides.

Other infective organisms such as beta-hemolytic
strep may destroy red blood cells.

Cancers.Cancers
develop extensive networks of blood vessels and these sometimes rupture,
causing internal bleeding.This
will result in an anemic condition, at times with no other symptoms at all.

Parasitic infection.In
some areas of the world, leeches, other blood-sucking parasites, and worms that
may live inside the body can siphon off enough blood to cause anemia.This is rare in developed nations,
however.

Chemical poisoning.Pesticide exposure or something else will occasionally cause unusual
blood disorders of many kinds.In
general, the chemical poisons the bone marrow in some way and this impairs
proper blood formation.However,
other mechanisms may be present as well, such as weakening the red blood cells
and hastening their destruction.Nutritional balancing programs can usually remove most toxic chemicals
from the body.

Sickle cell anemia and thalasemias.These
are more genetically-related anemias found respectively in negro populations
and Southern European populations.They are due to enzyme deficiencies.It is possible that nutritional balancing, however, may even
help to keep these anemias in check.

VEGETARIAN AND SEMI-VEGETARIAN DIETS,
AND ANEMIA

Diets
low in meats and eggs are a critically important cause of anemia today.These diets are low in good-quality
iron and they are too high in copper.In addition, they are low in zinc, which protects the body against too
much copper.Such diets are also
low in vitamin B12, especially strict vegetarian and vegan diets.

As
a result, these diets cause both pernicious anemia due to low vitamin B12.However, they cause an anemia that
looks exactly like iron deficiency anemia, even if one takes iron.The anemia, as explained in the
sections above, is due to biounavailable copper.This is a widespread cause of fatigue, lowered resistance to
disease and other problems today, especially for women.

ANEMIA
AS A SYMPTOM OF A HEALING OR PURIFICATION REACTION

I
recently had a client whose longstanding anemia became worse, all of a sudden,
during a nutritional balancing program.Her anemia had been chronic for years, and unresponsive to conventional
medical therapy.She was also
diabetic for years.

I
determined that the anemia was probably due to lead or copper toxicity.During her nutritional balancing
program, she went through a significant release of lead into her bloodstream as
it was mobilized from storage sites in her pancreas, liver and elsewhere.When this occurred, she felt more tired
and a blood test revealed a worsening of her anemia.

Doctors were
frightened and even considered surgery to look for internal bleeding, although
she had no other signs of distress.Fortunately, on repeated blood tests every few days, doctors found that
her anemia was mysteriously improving on its own.This is exactly the sequence of events of a typical healing
reaction, with spontaneous improvement in signs or symptoms without a need for
medical intervention of any kind.However, it was the first time I ran across a worsening of anemia as
part of a purification reaction.

As an aside,
her diabetes improved at the same time.Lead, cadmium, iron and other toxic metals easily accumulate in the
pancreas and can be responsible for some cases of diabetes.

OTHER
BLOOD DISORDERS

There
are many unusual types of blood disorders, most of which are uncommon.They may affect the red blood cells,
white cells, the platelets or other blood components.In my limited experience with these conditions, improving
the nutritional balance and removing toxic metals and toxic chemicals from the
body in the systematic fashion that is possible with nutritional balancing
science can have a beneficial effect in these cases.

Each case is
different, however, so one cannot generalize more than to suggest that this
method be tried first, as it is simple and non-invasive. For more on these
blood disorders, please read Blood Disorders
on this site.